


It's me and you, versus the world

by nervecore



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Blood, F/F, International Fanworks Day 2021, Knight!Minho, Royalty, Sex swap, Swords, Violence, chan is a princess, fem!Chan, fem!minho, femslash!minchan, minho is a knight, minho is great and helps chan with things, old era but there are some steampunk elements i guess, princess!chan, royal au, sex swap chan, sex swap minho, the setting is a bit weird, there is technology, theyre lesbians your honour, things get confusing though, will add more tags with the next chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:29:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29258988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nervecore/pseuds/nervecore
Summary: When Minho decided she would dedicate her entire life to protect the royal family, despite her young age at the time, she knew what procedures were going to be taken in consideration. She knew what she was getting herself into, since a lot of her other relatives once served the royal family. But how would that look for her down the line? She surely did not expected to be offered the chance to protect the princess and become her personal knight. She couldn not have guessed they would get close and also experience something that could change both their lives and perceptions of each other. But Minho swore to protect Chan.
Relationships: Bang Chan & Lee Minho | Lee Know, Bang Chan/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4
Collections: Drabbles Challenge for Chaotic Writers





	It's me and you, versus the world

**Author's Note:**

> !! NOT BETA READ !!
> 
> This is a work of fiction, I don't own the characters and they don't match their real personalities. They are sex-swapped (or fem leaning if you will). They use she/her pronouns and will be referred as such in the story. Please keep the pronouns when commenting, thank you. Enjoy reading and leave me a comment if you want! It would make my day. :)

When Minho decided she would dedicate her entire life to protect the royal family, despite her young age at the time, she knew what procedures were going to be taken in consideration. She knew what she was getting herself into, since a lot of her other relatives once served the royal family. However, most of them were not part of the protection ‘team’, if she could call it that. People used to restrict folks who were female assigned at birth from joining such forces, but since then, that law was abolished due to the request of the previous queen prior to the one crowned at that moment. No one actually complained, because everyone considered that people should be free to do what they want and engage in any work they desired. It made multiple lives better, between which also Minho’s. Her dad used to be the king’s personal knight at some point, but some years down the line, his health deplated due to some heart problems, so he stepped down.

Minho always admired her dad for even taking upon such an important role and she made it her call to also serve the royal family, as she heard only good things about them. Cruelty was never one of their traits and Minho definitely found that respectable. Their kingdom loved them and there was not any person who would want to overthrow them. To some, it could of course sound like an exaggeration, but it was true to its core. If you were going to strip down the royal family’s layers of personality, you were still going to find kindness and care for the people under them, no matter the social status they were finding themselves in. No one had actual resources to pin bad things onto the royal family and that was making quite the impression on Minho.

Of course, ever since she could remember stuff, she was aware that she and her family were definitely lucky to live under such good people. The realisation only creeped up to her down the line, as her wish to become one of their right hand was becoming stronger and stronger. To convince her parents, of course, was hard. It was a given, not because her dad had bad experiences when he used to be a knight, but because they wanted her to re-consider her choices. It could get very hard. It could get overwhelming. It could turn out it wasn’t what she actually wanted. And so on. But Minho knew better, she would always calm her parents down over those concerns. She understood why they were so worked up, she couldn’t blame them. But she knew what she was getting herself into, as stated previously.

So she pursued what she craved for the longest time: she signed up for the program in which they would teach her to be a faithful knight. It was importnat to note that she was only 12 when she made that decision, but she never showed any signs of regretting it. She simply didn’t. She noticed other people dreading being there or dropping out, but she was never able to associate any of her emotions with one of the others’ who were leaving. She wasn’t able to show empathy in that kind of way. Maybe she had a ‘mature’ way of thinking, but that was not it, obviously. She just had the gift to know what she was going for from the start. She had nothing to prove. She was not there to showcase that she wanted to be 100% trusted by the royal family. She was there, because she wanted to be there. If the royal family had doubts about her, that was fine. They maybe had their reasons.

The program took around three years to be fully finished and by that time, not a lot of people made it. But Minho was definitely between the ones who got so far. One could deem themselves proud of such achievement, but Minho was not looking for pride. She never was and everyone in that program noticed that. Even the royal family itself caught up with the different sparkle in her eyes. She was different, but in a good way. She did what she did for herself and if she had to do it for something or someone else, she needed a very good reason. It was not a selfish act, even though some people might look at it from that perspective. The royal family and the teachers called it ‘to be determined’ and they were not wrong.

Once you understood why Minho was doing what she was doing, you could piece the puzzle together and finally see the bigger picture. And the royal bloodline liked that. Quite a lot, actually. They took a definitive liking upon Minho. And they never tried to hide it.

So due to that, probably everyone besides Minho saw that one thing coming… And by that thing, I mean the moment when the king and queen themselves asked her to serve them directly by becoming their daughter’s personal knight. It was a huge offer that no one in their right mind would turn down and Minho was aware of that. However, with that position, a lot of responsabilities were on the table. The thing that was bothering her, though, was not the fact that she would have more things to do. It was that she never met the princess up until then. She only heard whispers, rumours and simple words thrown around. She never saw her eye to eye. Princess Chan was a mystery to everyone, besides the close staff of the royal family and the bloodline itself.

With all of that in mind, Minho showed obvious signs of having her own questions with no answers. And the royal family quickly picked up on that, but quite frankly, they didn’t want to be turned down. So they offered Minho the chance to meet the princess face to face. Only the two of them.

She was hesitant to hear such an offer. Especially since it was clear as the day that people who are not in the royal family, or close to them, couldn’t see the princess. There were attempts, Minho would know. She heard it all from her dad before. About how some people would try to infiltrate in the palace and invade the royal family’s privacy and see a specific person from it. Minho couldn’t even begin to imagine how frustrating and stressing it must have been to have people do that to you. She felt bad for the princess. But of course, what she was oferred was a big opportunity. Not only to prove herself to the country, but also prove herself to her own self. Which was the mere reason why she enrolled. To serve the kingdom she had been living in and show everyone that not the recognition and brownie points were important. But the sense of self you acquire, when you know what you are able to do.

The King and Queen gave Minho time to think about it. Of course, they didn nott actually want her to turn them down. But they had fate that she would definitely take the decidion that seemed most likely to be taken into the account. It was fair to say that they were not very scared of the potential outcome. And Minho was more than aware of that. She knew what was expected from her and it was kind of interesting. Yes, her dad served the King. And she was basically following his steps by being given the one and single chance to serve the princess. So, at the end of the day, what harm could it bring to see the princess?

Probably none, as far as Minho was concerned. They would, more than likely, be under protection and other kinghts’ eyes. Nothing was bound to go wrong. Or at least, that was what she hoped, of course. One could never know. And Minho would never let her guard down, no matter what.

So two days later, after contemplating and studying the offer from each side possible, she came back to the royal couple with an answer. She accepted to meet the princess, but that did not mean right away that Minho was going to accept the knight position. It was only to try the waters around the person she was meant to protect with her life. If they did not get along well, what would have been the sense to even try and get closer to the princess later on? It would have been awkward and Minho would have dropped the post. As tempting as it was, she did not dare to do anything that could make the princess uncomfortable. Or go to lengths that could end up bad for both of them.

And Minho did not fail to mention that to the royal couple. To say they were impressed was a misunderstanding. They were both really impressed and shocked. Not only by her emotional intelligence, but also by the trait she possessed of thinking of others and of her as well, at the same time, painting a big picture and carefully addressing it in such a way that could never go by as ill intended. It was only giving more reasons to the King and the Queen to strive to have her protect their daughter.

It was quite beautiful. They were seeing Minho not only as a potential asset to their protection, but also someone their kid could love being around and someone they could even call a daughter. Of course, not literally. But she was not just well versed in her words, thinking methods and her ‘military’ abilities. She was pondering life in a way that could result in the best outcomes, no matter how worse the situation could get. Maybe Minho learnt all of that from her father throughout his time as a servant. Maybe Minho inherited that from her father and mother, who were both known as people with a clear head and good intentions. The King was definitely seeing her father’s traits in her to some extent. But Minho was also her own person, nonetheless.

She had fierce instincts, she had interesting views and she was also everything what her parents were not. And when all of those traits were combined, you would definitely expect a clash within her personality. But in her case, everything was wrapping up around quite nicely. It was not only a pleasant surprise, but also something no one had seen before they met Minho. It could be described as poetic to some extent and while Minho was not denying that, she was also not interested per se in getting too into this kind of stuff. She was totally leaving it up to everyone else. After all, she could not control how others were seeing her. So at the end of the day, it was not her place to say something.

So she simply did not. Easy like that, truth be told.

“When will I be able to see her royalty?” Minho questioned, carefully, as she was kneeling, looking up at the King and the Queen sitting in their thrones. The Throne Hall was neither gigantic, nor small. Yes, it was imposing. Especially for the first time you went inside. It was decorated with the finest decisions taken by long gone architects of that time, leaving a very rustic feeling which added to the terrifying and yet, pleasing view of the whole place. The details were out of that world. The longer you were analysing each and every part of the design for the hall, the more you were noticing about it. References and clues about the eras the palace had been through were everywhere. The old and the new were also complimenting each other to some extent. You could see possible renovations and changes in the way some pillars or furniture were presenting themselves. It was a lot to take in, but Minho was not there to inspect the royal couple’s Throne Hall. She was not skilled enough to even give her opinion on how it looked, even if she thought that the hall looked nothing but only extremely gorgeous.

“Well, whenever you have the time, of course.” the King replied to Minho’s question and that made her frown. That was not the way things were supposed to go. Knights were not making the royal family wrap their schedule around their activities. So why was Minho supposed to choose a time and place when the princess could be very much busy? It just did not make any kind of sense.

“I apologise sire, but pardon? I don’t want to talk back or anything, but shouldn’t the princess make this decision? After all, I’m supposed to be the one to clear my schedule for her. Not the other way around.” Minho took the courage to speak up against what the King had just said. That made the Queen let out a light-hearted laugh.

“Yes Minho, that’s right, but you are also your own person. And you are not actually working for her or us just yet. While you are part of our new batch of knights, that does not mean we can spin all of you around as you wish, you know? You are also humans, just like us. And we have made that clear during all of our ruling. Is that not right?” the King answered Minho’s question and then smiled at the kneeling girl in front of them. “Stand up.”

Minho complied and she stood up, putting her hands behind her back and maintaining eye contact with the King, while mustering up the will to speak up again, feeling ashamed of even asking such a question when she knew that the royal couple were nothing but understanding and caring of their own kingdom.

“Would the next Monday be alright?” she finally let out those six words, waiting patiently for the answer. She had no idea why she was that scared of what was going to come next. She was not nagged at. Quite the contrary, actually. But she still had a lingering feeling that maybe she should perhaps have reminded herself that the royal family was not composed of tyrants or anything of such kind. They were nice people and that was made clear throughout her whole time there.

“It would be more than perfect. We will let you know the time and place in advance.” the Queen replied to her and smiled as well. “You’re free to go now.” Minho bowed mindfully and then sent her regards, leaving the Throne Hall, with a relieved sigh. Who knew being in such a situation could be so soul crushing and impressing at the same time? Not her. She knew that if she did click with the princess, she probably was going to have more memories in that hall than she could ever imagine at that point in her life.

Thinking back to all of that was entertaining for Minho. Every time. Reminescing about all of that together with the princess was the source of many good laughs throughout the years, ever since they met on that fateful day of Monday.

She recalled all of that as if it was yesterday. As if the time never actually moved from its place. All the puzzle pieces they together accumulated were fitting together nicely. All the memories, the feelings and the excitement they went through together. It was from another world. They all noticed how well they understood each other. Right away. No more words needed, they were unnecessary. All the emotions hidden within their eyes and the nights spent talking to each other about one thing or another, either deep or just completely unimportant. All of that, they missed it, even if they still had the same thing going on, years later. They jsut missed each other in ways no one could understand. Or well, at least, in ways others never have seen them bloom together. It was beautiful and it was graceful. They taught each other so much.

And it all started back then.

When Minho was told one day prior when she was going to meet the princess, to say that she was nervous to some extent was an udnerstatement. She was beyond nervous. She had no idea what to say, what conversation starters to use and what to ask. They had around two hours with each other and those could go either really good or very bad, depending on the way they were going to clash with each other. And that terrified Minho to her core. She could feel her heart sinking as each hour passed and the moment of the meeting was rapidly approaching.

Two hours. It sounded both long and short. She expressed her concerns to her father the day prior and he told her to just be herself. The royal couple saw potential in her right away, just because Minho acted the way she normally acted. And that was true, Minho was not able to argue back to that. But the King and the Queen were totally different from their daughter. Or that was what Minho’s brain was trying to ingrain in her thought process so it could set her up for failure. It was both infuriating and worrying. She wished she could turn off her brain and just go with the flow or whatvere kid those days were saying, she never really paid attention to any of that and she was not going to start anytime soon. What was happening at that moment was about her and her concerns over how the whole rendezvous was going to end up. Not about what the teengers thought it was hip in those days. She wished she could turn off the random references her brain was making, but it did help her calm down a little bit.

But it ended up being all for nothing, because once the time hit for her to get going towards the garden of the palace, Minho was pretty sure everyone was able to hear her heartbeat from kilometers away. And maybe she was right, because she did feel stares from other well versed knights on her. If she could, she would run away at that very moment and never look back. But that was going against all of her beliefs and actions she showed so far until that point. She had to pick herself up if she wanted to make a good impression.

Not saying that it was the whole purpose, but…

Once arrived, Minho took a seat on the nearest bench and looked around the garden. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the sky had fluffy, small clouds, slwoly moving from one part to another. There was no significant wind and if you were listening closely, you could definitely hear birds chirping all over the place from the trees. It was quite melodic and it did its job in soothing Minho for what was to come. With the corner of her eye, she was able to catch one of the gardners doing their job and watering some beautiful roses.

The way the garden was structured was quite fancy, if Minho could say so. It was mostly placed in the back side of the castle and it had four major paths that could elad you out of the garden or towards some other important buildings. In the middle were a lot of benches, where the staff or other people related to the palace were spending their time. There were possible places to have picnics, sit under the trees and read or just get lost within the beauty of nature. Of course, there were other smaller paths too, that were leading to things Minho was not familiar with yet. Not because they were not allowed to go there, but because she was never curious about it, so she never ‘intruded’. If you could even name it intruding in the first place.

As she was saying, she let her back meet the hard wood of the bench, looking around to make sure she was not going to miss the arrival of the princess, while she was aimlessly moving her legs to make time go by faster, even if that was the last of her intentions and she was absolutely not ready.

Lost in thought, she never noticed when a cat decided to make its way towards the bench and sit near Minho, curling itself and trying to take a nap under the sun, letting out purring sounds. Once the purrs brought Minho back to Earth, she looked down at the cat on her right and she let out a small ‘aww’ sound, starting to pet the cat. As she started doing so, the purrs got louder, signaling to the girl that the cat enjoyed that a lot and it did not want her to stop.

That was the plan, until she heard a calm and soothing voice speak up suddenly, out of nowhere and it sounded like the person was out of breath. It made Minho stop doing whatever she was doing, even if the cat was protesting and wanted more pats from the girl sitting on the bench.

“I’m sorry, she ran away as I had her in my arms. Did she bother you?”

Minho did not have it in her to move at first, but she couldn’t just… sit there like she didn’t hear them speak, so she moved her hand back next to her and shifted her gaze upon the person who spoke and to her delight or dismay… The voice belonged to the princess. Minho’s breath hitched in her throat for a second at the realisation upon seeing the crown and before she could collect herself, she made the mistake to take a better look at the daughter of the royal couple and Minho could swear she never saw anyone more stunning than her. It was like the princess was literally out of a fairytale and she couldn’t move, do or say anything. But then she realised how foolish she was probably looking in front of the princess.

“Oh- Um… No, not at all. Don’t worry.” Minho answered awkwardly and stood up, matching the princess’ eye level now. She took the cat in her arms, slowly but carefully handing it back to her. “You must be the princess?” she then asked right away.

“Yeah, that would be me. But don’t bow or kneel, please. It makes me uncomfortable, especially at my current age. And you are?” she took the cat in her arms and started petting her, a bright, beautiful smile complimenting her already otherwordly features. To say Minho was in awe was an understatement.

“Minho. Lee Minho. I’m the knight your parents arranged a meeting with.” she simply pointed out in an almost robotic way.

“Oh. Wow. My parents never told me the knight that must protect me was going to challenge me on how I look. Now I feel betrayed. Of course, that’s a joke. But I’m Chan. Nice to meet you Minho. She is Dori. She seems to like you, so I guess you already started with your right foot in our friendship.” Chan told Minho and smiled brightly once again and she could swear that the princess was literally theratening the sun on taking its place as the most lovely thing in the world. There could only be one and Minho was ready to fight the sun for Chan.

“Oh, please, princess. I could never. I have never seen two pretty best friends, so no one is threatening your place as the most gorgeous person.” she found herself complimenting Chan in a way Minho would have never imagined. She was shocked at her own words and she thiught she fucked up. That until Chan let out a whole-hearted laugh and that had been the most beautiful sound Minho heard in her life.

“Well, we are about to take your statement and turn it around, because we are about to be two pretty best friends.” Chan simply said and started walking towards a small path. Minho frowned but jogged a bit to catch up, following suit after the princess. “You know, I was afraid things might go down the wrong path, but you just showed me I was fearing for no reason. I think we are going to get along really well. So, basically this is not the last you are going to see of me and well, if you don’t like it… Rude. But it’s fine, I just think we match well to some extent.” she then continued to say as they got to a place full of fruit trees. There was a blanket under one of them. Chan placed Dori on the blanket and she immediately curled up, trying to take another nap, a thing that made Minho let out a chuckle.

The rest of the two hours went by more smoothly than the knight could have ever imagined. Her and Chan definitely clicked and Minho couldn’t wait for the next time she was going to see the princess. Maybe it was way too early, but she could feel the bond forming and it was… a whole new experience for her. Minho usually did not really let people get to know her properly, but… Chan was different. Maybe it was because she had to protect her from then on? Or just because she felt like she could trust Chan more than anyone she ever met up until then? Whatever it was, it just felt right. And while it was… in a way scary, she did like what was happening. Might not be as bad as she thought it would be.

And she definitely was thankful for that and was still.

Seconds, minutes and hours flew by faster than Minho thought they would. Days, weeks and months seemed way too short. Seasons were changing every blink of an eye. Years were starting and by the time the realisation of a new year hit, it was already over. Things changed, people changed and the time took with it many other things that seemed unbreakable or untouchable. It was sad to fanthom that those things were real, when the time felt like everything but that.

However, one thing that did change for the better was Minho’s and Chan’s friendship. It grew stronger, it went beyond just Royalty and Knight. Those were just roles they were playing sometimes, but they knew each other better than what those ‘names’ were giving away. They were each other’s journal, but not in a harmful and toxic way. They taught themselves to be careful on how things are worded between them. While communication, indeed, is the key in any kind of relationship, they made sure to not hurt the other in one way or another. Because words were like swords, if not handled gracefully, you could definitely scar someone you don’t mean to scar.

That was probably the answer why they never had a serious fallout. Yes, sure, the road was bumpy and maybe the trip felt exhausting at times, but the good was outweighing the bad and that was what mattered. And as bad as it could get, it was never something that they were not able to handle themselves. Their friendship was always something just between them, not letting anyone in too close for comfort. They would just stick their nose where it was not their business in teh first place.

And maybe that was the beauty of it, to have someone so close that you just know you would never know outside help to solve problems. Working it out together was always going to bring them even closer.

Another thing that changed… was the way Minho viewed Chan. Yes, Chan was still the princess that everyone in the kingdome admired and loved. The princess she was protecting with her own life and she would never exchange that for anything in the world. But with time, as they grew up… some specific feelings turned to be more deep than what she thought. Of course, she would never bring it up. Not because of the fear of rejection or that Chan would think of it as ‘weird’. But because there was still a line between them, no matter how much they were trying to erase it. It was still there. It was never going to disappear.

And while it did make Minho sad to some extent, she knew that the line existed with a reason. If the princess ever seeked a partner that was feminine, she would definitely choose royalty, not someone who was chosen to protect her. Yes, they both valued their friendship, but taking it to a whole new ‘step’ was always out of discussion. Cheeky flirting and smug faces thrown around meant nothing, because it was all friendly and not meant to be.

Minho knew, so that was why she never tried to think about her feelings too much. They were going to fade away hopefully once Chan was going to marry someone. Will their friendship last? Of course, there was no doubt to that. But Minho did hope that her feelings were going to go away even before that moment… that moment that she kind of dreaded. And she wished she didn’t.

But it was the inevitable and that was one of the things Minho could not fight, no matter how much she would like to do so. It was the truth and she accepted it a long time ago. Yes, having beef with time and fate was normal. Everyone did. But less common was accepting that you could not possibly change waht the universe had in store for some people. One would try to change that and honestly? Good for them, but Minho knew better than to fight against something that did not have a physical form. And that was, of course, okay.

Minho dodged the attack Chan was aiming towards her and then turned around, making use of the fact that the princess was not yet ready to parry a future attack. She disarmed her from the back, turned her around and placed the blade of the sword under the princess’ chin. Minho used the blade to lift Chan’s chin slightly, her stance signaling she still didn’t drop her guard down. Her expression was stone cold, but of course that made the princess let out a laugh, gently pushing the sword down. Minho then took a step away, letting a smile make its way on her face as well.

“Princess, at this rate, we will have to start from the basics again and I have no idea how many times I am going to show you how to calculate your opponent’s weaknesses. Not saying you’re doing disastrously, you’re better than half of the people I saw during the knight program.” Minho jokingly said with a smug look on her face, crossing her arms on top of her chest. Chan rolled her eyes, but she also had a grin on her face, taking off her gloves she was wearing during the training.

“You’re just too good at this. I’ve tried to figure you out in battle so many times during the years and you’re still unpredictable, every time. You just have something special about it. I wish I could have what you have in terms of sword fights.” the princess said and looked Minho in the eyes, letting out an amused sigh when the knight looked taken aback by her words. Worked every time.

“Everyone has weaknesses, your royalty.” Minho simply stated and placed the swords back in their place and then pressed a button that made a ‘ding’ sound to announce the maids that they can come in and clean the place up. She also got rid of her gloves, running a hand through her hair right after.

“It seems I can’t get the hang of any you have then. Why don’t you just do the job for me and tell me instead. Please, Min, please?” Chan made a fake sad face and hugged Minho’s waist in an attempt to show her puppy eyes, thinking it would work. And usually it would, but not in the context of fighting and training. But taht did not stop the princess to try it every time. The knight had to appreciate her effort and commitment to the cause.

“What’s the point in learning, then?” Minho shrugged and got out of Chan’s embrace, making her pout. Upon seeing that, she let out a chuckle and rolled her eyes. “You have to get ready for lunch with your parents, princess. If you lose more time, you might be late.”

“Help me pick my dress and do my hair, then! If I’m late, I might as well be fashionably late.”

“You have watched too many teen romcoms, Chan.” Minho simply pointed out but still let herself be dragged by the princess towards her room. However, as exciting all of that sounded, there was something that gave Minho a bad feeling about the whole lunch situation. Her parents never requested a dine only with their daughter. It must have been important matters, sure. But that did not help Minho with her concerns over what it could possibly be. She could just wonder. Maybe they were going to tell her to finally look into dating someone from other kingdoms? Start preparations for her official coronation? All of these were plausible, but even then something did not seem quite right. Hm.

She tried to shake off all of that and instead focused her attention on helping Chan prepare for the event. If you could even call it that. They looked through the princess’ closet closely, as they tried to find a dress that suited the occassion. Nothing too fancy, but neither too simple. It seemed like something easy to find, but it was actually harder than it sounded. Whenever Chan wanted this kind of dress, it would take Minho hours upon hours to find something remotely close to the description. But they were pressured by time at that moment, so she tried to look through everything quicker. In the meantime, she sent Chan off to wash her hair and dry it, since it could have gotten messed up during the training.

Almost half an hour later, Minho finally came back with some options, helping the princess decide on which one was more appropiate. After a bit of back and forth, they settled for a light blue one. Once Chan put it on, the knight demanded to try to walk in it to make sure it didn’t feel weird and that she did not have any difficulty going around in it. Once the testing was done, Minho took everything she needed to start braiding the princess’ hair, making it less hard to deal with. Chan had long black hair, slightly curly at the ends and while she always complained about it, she never thought of cutting it off. It was quite funny to say the least. It wasn’t like Chan dealt with the hair herself, usually Minho offered to braid it, tie it or comb it for her, while they were talking about everything and nothing. It just became a habit over the years, one they both enjoyed nonetheless.

Once they were done, Minho escorted the princess down to the Dining Hall, trying to repress all the questions she had about what the lunch was about. She was aware that Chan probably was as clueless as she was, but maybe, just maybe… she knew more than what she let others see. But there was no reason for her to hide that from Minho, so once again her mind was full of questions with no answers.

Once arrived in the Dining Hall, Minho bowed to the parents who were seated already. They nodded at her and as she wanted to leave and close the doors, the Queen called out to her, much to her surprise and perhaps, excitement.

“Minho, stay. We’d like you to also be aware of the situation.”

As soon as the knight heard that, she closed the doors and walked Chan towards her seat, deciding to stand some feet behind the chair, her expression unreadable and serious, matching the whole atmosphere this lunch was giving. The food was not yet done, so there was enough time for the conversation to start. However, for some reason, it did not start yet. There was something heavy in the air, something Minho did not like. All her concerns were coming back, one by one. Despite not letting it wear on her stance and eyes, something told her that Chan was feeling her tension, because she turned back and gave her a reassuring smile.

Yeah, it did make her relax a bit, but it was not enough. It jsut felt like she had to be on her guard, no matter what. It jsut seemed like the right thing to do at that given moment and she was not going to ignore her instinct. And maybe she was right. Maybe everything meant that she was right all along.

As soon as the King wanted to start speaking, shouting and crying could be heard throughout the whole palace and bangs on the Dining Hall’s doors. Minho turned around instantly and took out her sword. She tried to make out how many there were. And why they were there, but everything was blurry.

“Minho, take Chan and run through the kitchen. This is an order you must follow, right now.” despite being bitter at hearing those words, Minho gritted her teeth and put back her sword, taking Chan by her hand, interlacing their fingers and running towards the kitchen. The chef already opened the door for them and let them go through, locking it right after.

Minho looked around for the back door and once she found it, she opened it and made sure that the princess went in first. She slammed the door shut after them and started running away through the corridor that was connecting the kitchen of the palace to the garden. Before they got out, the knight looked through the windows to make sure no one unknown was waiting for them. The coast seemed clear, but they needed to get away and fast.

“The stables shouldn’t be that far away from here.” Chan suddenly told her and that perked Minho’s interest. Because she was right. The stables were near the training grounds for the knights and she knew that place like the back of her hand. They could get there undected for the most part. But how many enemies were there even? Did the Queen and the King survive? Are they still alive? Did anyone die? Who even invaded them in teh first place? Were they looking for Chan? And if yes… why? So many more questions than before. And yet no answer.

“Okay. We get out there and if you see anyone coming towards us, immediately let me know.” inho told Chan and she nodded. At the count of three, they busted the door open and started running through the garden, not on the paths, and towards the building where the knights were spending their time. They heard some shouts, but none exactly near them, so that made them just try to run faster. Once they reached the stables, they hid in the back of them, behind the hay.

They had to be sure no one followed them there. Footsteps. Some ran after them. And they were actively looking for them throughout the place. If they were not going to find them, they might free the horses and their plan was going to go down the drain.

“Give us the princess and no one will be hurt!” whoever that was yelled in the stable, while still looking around.

As if.

Minho wanted to get up and fight him but Chan stopped her, right then and there, silently pointing towards the other entrance of the stable near them. Someone else heard the yelling from the person and came as assisstance. The knight could have taken them down, but perhaps only if she fought one of them at the time, especially in such a small place.

“It’s okay, I can do it, Chan.” Minho whispered to the princess and while Chan did not doubt that, she was still thinking it was not a good plan. She wanted to help, but she was not armed, so she could quite possibly be better off letting Minho handle all of that. “You’re safe with me, you will always be.”

In such a situation, hearing that was disturbingly reassuring to the princess, but if she wanted things to end well for the both of them, she had to believe in Minho and she did. She put on a small smile.

“I know I am, Minho. I trust you with that.” she simply said and while those words could be described as ‘whatever’, it emant a lot to the knight. She swore to protect the princess until she died. And that was what she was going to do. She got up and charged towards the person near them, taking out her swords and aiming for the stomach. It was too late for them to even try to fight back, because before they knew it, they had a sharp sword through their body. Blood was dropping from the tip of it, dirtying the hay spread across the floor. The person let out a pained cry and to make them shut up, Minho took out her sword in a fast paced manner and then immediately beheaded the person, blood getting everywhere on the walls, floor, hay, her armor and the nearest horse in the stable.

The head fell near her feet and if that was not enough to scare the other person who just witnessed the scene, the fact that Minho was currently charging at them was going to do the job. She wielded the sword in such a manner that she penetrated the person’s neck, making more blood get on her face and hair. The look in her eyes was something others would never be able to decipher. It was not ‘revenge’. It was the fact that she cared enough about somebody to give their all to protect them. If they were going to be deemed a murder by the people who have fallen at their feet, so be it.

But the princess was worth more than any of those people’s lives.

With a quick change of hands, Minho took back her swords and then did the same thing to them. With a fast pace, she sliced the person’s head, the body falling to the floor and the head flying on a patch of grass from out of the stables. The horses started to get uneasy at the events happening. If they wanted to leave, she had to find a calm horse and put everything needed on it and then run away. She did not have the time to spare to get rid of the blood on any of her hands, face or any path of skin she had out at that given moment.

She focused on choosing a horse and thinking about which kingdom they could travel to that wasn’t very far away and Chan’s parents were friends with. An answer came to her mind. The Kims always visited every once in a while and the Queen and King were always sending them letters. They were their best shot. The people who invaded the palace did not look like they belonged to that kingdom, so it was a safe assumption to go for that idea.

After being done with preparing the horse and calming it down, she took it out of the stable and signaled to the princess that it was safe to come out. As much as she did not want Chan to see the blood and the scene of the fight, it was inevitable. And it was too late to even care about that. They never knew when a new enemy was going to approach them.

Minho helped Chan on the horse and then she, herself, got on it and took the straps in her hands. She nudged the horse to start walking and they took a path that was going through a forest. They could make their traces get lost that way. The less they knew of where they were headed, the better. They would probably make assumptions, since everyone knew about the alliance between the Bangs and the Kims. But what Minho was hoping for was the fact that they wouldn’t think of that right away.

“Where are we going?” Chan finally asked, as she looked around the forest and the path leading into it was finally fading. From then on, they were on their own to find out how to get out of the imposing tall trees. Minho has gone through that forest before, but her knowledge about it was limited. She had to trust her gut to take them out of that place. But if she was right, going straight was going to get them near a road and from there on they should be able to find how to get to the Kim kingdom.

“Even the bushes have ears, princess.” Minho simply answered, as she still didn’t trust the fact that they were completely alone. Maybe she was paranoid, but better safe than sorry. That was what they were taught and that was something the knight was going to live by almost all her life.

“Do you think we could be followed?” Chan then suggested, which made Minho frown at the thought. She hoped not, she did not hear anyone going after them up until then. The answer could be pretty much ‘no’, but she did not want to risk it and be proven otherwise later. It was a plot twist Minho was definitely not rooting for and with a good reason. As much ground the forest gave her to fight foes, as tricky it could be and advantage others instead of her.

“I’m not sure. Either the situation, having your guard on is the safe answer for this situation, princess.” the knight replied with a sigh and she made the horse go faster, as it seemed they reached a part where they were able to galop and not get stuck in trees’ branches or not see too far ahead.

They needed to make it to the other kingdom before the night settled in. If they decided to make any unnecessary stops, it could cost their lives and that did not sound pleasing. Maybe it was a long way and it required to just keep going without looking back and having breaks, but they could rest once they were under the protection of a ‘friend’. Out in the open, everyone was their enemy and everyone could be after them. No one was to be trusted. Not until they pass through the Kim kingdom’s gates.

Only then… Only then they could be able to finally let out a sigh of relief and be thankful that they survived. Minho knew that they were going to hear the news in the morning of what happened and who the enemy was. And while that was scary, it could give them the possibility of thinking of what to do next. In the given condition, they were not able to fight back. And maybe the Kims did not want any war on their list, but it was worth a shot, after all.

They could only hope the circumstances they were going to find themselves in were going to turn out to be favorable. Putting these thoughts in the world, Minho wished for a better tomorrow and the stregth to make it whatever fate threw at them.

It was a battle. It was a war. And it wasn’t fine.


End file.
